This is a class blog run by Dr. Carolina Acosta-Alzuru and her students in the course "Telenovelas, Culture & Society" at the University of Georgia during Fall 2015

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Amiga

she is forever immortalized and the beautiful "Moni"

she is forever immortalized as the light that shone through, the kindness and gentle beauty

she is forever immortalized as as strong mother, partner, and friend

Her memory has forever been immortalized in a song called Amiga

Aún recuerdo la primera vez

que te conocí

Nunca olvidaré la luz

que vivía dentro de ti

No puedo creer aún

que te hayas ido al más allá

Solo espero que te llegue

mi canción a donde estás

Algún día nos volveremos a encontrar

Pero por ahora, vuela, vuela lejos,

Amiga te deseo un viaje feliz

Hoy te canto a ti, Amiga

Porque sé que si estuvieras aquí

Cantaríamos, bailaríamos

Hasta ver la salida del Sol.

Hablaríamos de la vida.

Ay amiga, ni me pude despedir

No te pude ni decir que fue un placer,

Llamarte Amiga

No puedo creer aún

Que te hayas ido al más allá

Lo que daria por abrazarte

Y escucharte una vez mas

Algún día nos volveremos a encontrar

Pero por ahora, vuela, vuela lejos,

Amiga te deseo un viaje feliz

Hoy te canto a ti, Amiga

Porque sé que si estuvieras aquí

Cantaríamos, bailaríamos

Hasta ver la salida del Sol.

Hablaríamos de la vida.

Ay amiga, ni me pude despedir

No te pude ni decir que fue un placer,

Fue mi honor llamarte Amiga.

Jencarlos Canela, Monica’s co-star - and winner of the favorite lead actor role- from the last telenovela that she participated in, Pasion Prohibida wrote this in her honor. He debuted this song on his world tour and even one of our classmates, Lisa, was in the crowd that night and noticed a change in the air and the emotions of those around her when he presented this tribute to her.

The incident happened on the Puerto Cabello-Valencia highway in Venezuela on a winter Monday night when Monica, her ex husband, Thomas, and their daughter Maya were traveling along the coast. Their car broke down and they were stranded. Soon, people approached the car to rob them, shot Monica, Thomas, and their daughter Maya. Maya survived with a wound to her leg, but will forever be left with only memories of her parents.

An investigation followed to find the group that attacked Monica and her family. As the country reacted to her death, there was a lot of circulation of feelings of anger towards that specific group but when compared to statistics, Monica and her family’s tragedy was one of the many murders that happened in Venezuela that year. In a CNN coverage article, Monica’s aunt speaks to Venezuela, encouraging them to “reacion[ar]”or react and wake up to the violence in Venezuela. He says that “it was Monica yesterday, but how many people have not died in our country?” The words of Monica’s aunt spoke on the same wavelength as the actress, Belen Marrero, whose son was murdered a year before.

After a press release by the Spear family, her brother said they were focused on pushing a message of peace to the country, not encouraging anything else. Her family continued to push messages of peace for the country as a whole to come together in order to make it a safer place.Following this tragedy, Tevelen broadcasted a chapter of “detras de las camaras” where family, friends, previous co-workers, co-stars, and writers that had experienced life with here talk about how she impacted each of their lives. They talked about how much she loved Venezuela, the outdoors and beautiful nature of the country. They recollected things she would say, how they knew she was different and had something special about her. “Monica was very observant and caring” they would say. Several of her fellow co-starts would talk about her passion for working with special people and how those relationships she developed with people in those communities gave her life.

After watching this video, I felt as if I had experienced losing something special. The way her family and friends talked about her reaffirmed the sadness I felt to not have known her. To realize that Monica’s death was an event that so easily happened by chance- I mean a flat tire- and one that occurred so violently took a toll on me. I was aware of the violence in Venezuela but putting and act to a name and a face- especially one that I have grown with through my experience in this semester so far- has weighed more heavily on my heart. I wish I had the opportunity to meet Monica, to spend time with her. It seems as though she truly was so special and different and I know she would have made a greater impact on me that she has already if I had the opportunity to interact with her. I could never imagine losing my parents and for Maya, that is her reality. I hope that she is able to one day go back to Venezuela safely and experience the country that her parents so dearly loved. Monica, may you rest in peace and may your homeland regain the peace and security that your hermanos deserve.

4 comments:

Monica, I think you made a very thoughtful and passionate post about this sensitive and sad topic and I especially like the part where you say it makes a difference to put a name and a face to the violence, because I think you are absolutely right. Thank you paying tribute to her and sharing Jencarlos’ beautiful song in her honor. He has performed it a lot, talking about her brilliance and the beautiful friend she was.

Thank you Lisa for sharing with me and encouraging me to write this post! Honestly, I was hesitant to write about it because I feel I needed to know her to write about her but I felt that a country's pain and emotions needed to be shared.

Monica, thank you for sharing and writing such an awesome post. This is such a powerful message and I appreciate you bringing this issue to the forefront. The words of Belen Marrero really resonated with me and I'm not embarrassed to admit that it moved me to the point of bringing tears to my eyes.

I hurt for Venezuela but her video to the empathy I feel for the country to another level. I think that it is one thing to have Dr. A tell us and give us accounts of what she sees in the country, but its another thing to hear such a moving and thoughtful account. I sincerely hope for change in the country that will lead to a better Venezuela but I agree with her, all this will start when more "serious" people are in a position of leadership in the country.

^YES DaniellaI couldn't help but say that. This post (and possibly the contribution of Thanksgiving overeating and emotions) literally brought me to tears. It really is incredible how a single person can have such a huge impact, and how this kind of tragedy can bring us all together to unite for a single cause. I think it is extremely important that the family did not push a message of further violence, but peace. It can be so easy to fall to anger with grief, but this situation just goes to show how you can turn that grief into a powerful force for good and an ability to remember a brilliant soul with happiness and joy. Thank you for this post!